‘Justice League’ Rises To $70.7M Through Friday At International Box Office

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Now open in 65 markets, Warner Bros/DC’s Justice League has lifted its international box office cume to $70.7M through Friday. This is off adding $43.3M yesterday on approximately 47,500 screens around the world. Japan is the only major not opening this session.

The confirmed Friday gross in China is in line with the flash estimates at $15.1M (RMB 100.3M). The superheroes are playing on 21,000 screens and took 65% of the Top 5 films. With sneaks factored in, the cume there is $16.4M. The Saturday number is estimated at $21M (RMB 139M) and will be confirmed tomorrow when we should see it top $50M for the full opening frame.

Some of the numbers today are more promising than they looked in the Friday update (notably Korea appears to have bounded upwards today, see just below), but as with domestic, projections on this opening for Justice League are skewing lower than expected. Prospects of getting to $200M look dim with rivals placing the finish at $160M-$180M through Sunday, although I understand WB is seeing higher. That’s still a big opening, and is well ahead of Wonder Woman‘s summer debut (NB: it had fewer markets in its launch and so a comp is not apples-to-apples), but it’s still far downward compared to the pre-opening buzz.

Mexico came in at No. 1 on Friday with $3.1M (58.7M pesos) from 3,834 screens and landing ahead of the opening day grosses of Wonder Woman (+33%) and Thor: Ragnarok (+48%).

In the UK, the Justice League also topped Wonder Woman and Thor with an estimated $3.3M (£2.5M) on 1,617 screens.

In other new bows, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince stormed into India with a No. 1 start of $1.2M (INR 78.2M) on 1,227 screens. That doubled WW’s first day and gave WB its third best start ever. In IMAX it’s WB’s best bow there. Spain also topped WW (+63%) and came in on par with Ragnarok at $933K (800K euros).

Brazil is still quite strong with a $7.5M cume through Friday. Korea is at $3.7M (although it had an unofficial 89% jump from Friday to Saturday so that number is closer to about $6.4M through Saturday; figures not provided by WB).

In Day 2 holds, the Australia cume is now $2.6M with 56% of the Top 5 on Friday; Russia is at $2.5M with 51% of the Top 5; the Philippines has $2.2M at over 90% of the Top 5; Taiwan has maintained 83% of the Top 5 with a $1.6M cume; and the UAE has lassoed $1.4M.

Germany and Italy are weaker with $1.3M and $1.1M, respectively, after two days. While JL has the best screen average in the latter, DC movies just don’t tend to find a bolt hole in the European majors.

For the Day 3s, France has grossed $2.6M in what is a weak start while Indonesia is also at $2.6M.

We’ll have the full picture on Sunday.

PREVIOUS, FRIDAY UPDATE: Warner Bros/DC’s Justice League opened in another 38 markets on Thursday to take the total to 47. In so doing, it added $18M, bringing the running international box office cume to $27.3M.

Not included in that total is today’s Day One China flash estimate which is $15.1M on approximately 21,000 screens and taking a 65% share of the Top 5 films. The Middle Kingdom start is WB’s 2nd biggest opening day ever behind Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, and is pretty much on par with the recent release of Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok. The PROC total for JL so far, including sneaks, is $16.4M. This portends a weekend in the $50M range.

Looking at Thursday, Australia was the top bow for the superheroes with $1.3M (A$1.7M) on 729 screens and taking 67% of the Top 5. This is WB’s best opening of 2017, topping Wonder Woman by 51%.

Russia grossed an estimated $1.3M (Rbl 76M) from 2,625 screens, dominating with a 63% share of the Top 5. This topped the Thursday opening of WW by +49%.

Korea bowed in earnest on Thursday with $1.14M (Won 1.3B). While it dominated play, that’s on par with the previous day. As we’ve previously noted, Korea is not a huge DC market. The cume through Thursday is $2.3M.

Then there’s the Philippines where JL commanded 98% of the Top 5 films in its open. The start there for the superhero mash-up is $1.12M (PHP 57.3M) on 748 screens. That makes it the biggest industry opening day for 2017, well above Thor 3 and WW.

In the UAE, the caped guys took in $701K (AED 2.6M) to pull the 2nd biggest opening day for a WB film ever behind BVS and ahead of the opening day of WW by 64%. Taiwan grossed $760K (NT$ 22.9) on 319 screens, for 85% of the market.

Where JL is less muscular is in Europe, which is not typically DC’s most armored batsuit. Germany brought in an estimated $737K (634K euros), including previews, on 936 screens and taking 45% share of the top 5 films during this non-holiday period. And Italy grossed $530K (455K euros) in its opening day, capturing 66% share of the Top 5 films. That is a good news score that doubled the opening day results of Wonder Woman. In its 2nd day, France grossed an estimated $578K (496K euros) on 687 screens, with 53% share of the Top 5 films and bringing the 2-day cume to $1.7M; that’s not so hot.

Where DC decidedly demonstrates power is in Latin America. In its second day, Brazil generated another strong $1.4M (R$ 4.7M) on 1,508 screens and maintained an 87% share of the Top 5 films. The local total is $5.6M.

Asia is also faring well with Indonesia adding $755K (IDR 10.8B) on 905 screens, bringing the cume to $1.6M.

There are 18 markets opening today (Friday) including Spain, the UK, China and Mexico. More updates to come…

PREVIOUS, THURSDAY 9:27 AM PT: Warner Bros/DC’s Justice League is off to the races at the international box office with $8.5M on its first day, Wednesday. That’s in nine markets as well as select previews on roughly 6,000 screens total.

In Brazil, Batman and the gang leveraged the Republic Day holiday to open on a non-traditional Wednesday and scored the biggest industry opening day of all time (in local currency). The Zack Snyder-helmed film captured 74% of the Top 5 films’ share for an estimated $3.7M (12.3M reals) on 1,509 screens. This is also the widest release ever in the market and it’s a great start to what should be one of the top plays for this installment. Brazil was the No. 3 overseas market on Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and the No. 2 play on Wonder Woman.

Previews out of Korea, which is not typically a huge DC market, flew to an estimated $1.14M (KRW 1.3B) on 1,195 screens. Significantly, with half-day shows (and a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in the southern region) the superhero mash-up took 50% of the Top 5 films in the market. Comparisons using sneak figures are not apples-to-apples. However, JL came in roughly on par with Wonder Woman results. That film had a full day of screenings compared to the sneaks for JL. Per local reporting, it is at an unofficial $2.3M after today (not included in the cume above).

In France, the DC heroes also dominated with a 61% share of the Top 5 admissions. The opening day was $1.1M (936K euros) off of 130K tickets sold on 687 screens. Those results are 19% ahead of Gal Gadot’s standalone Wonder Woman.

And Indonesia, which has increasingly become a superhero home, opened strong with an estimated $895K (IDR 12.8B) on 888 screens. That is above the bow of Thor: Ragnarok which took in IDR 11.88. It also gives WB its biggest opening day gross ever, and is the No. 5 top industry opening.

There are 38 more markets opening today, including Germany, Italy, Russia, Korea and Australia. China bows tomorrow in earnest. In previews there, the unofficial number is about $1.3M from Thursday midnights. That market will be a swing for sure on what has been seen by industry sources as an eventual $215M-$235M overall overseas opening weekend.